Award Criteria
The medal was presented to:
- Members of the -
- Landstreitkräfte (Army)
- Volksmarine (Navy)
- Luftstreitkräfte (Air Forces)
- Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS / Ministry for State Security), commonly known as the Stasi (including Stasi agents and informers)
- Individuals in civil service
- Individuals employed by the National People's Army
- Individuals who are not members of the National People's Army
- Collectives with membership of any of the previously mentioned groups
By regulation all three levels could be awarded to any rank in the armed forces. But in practice, the gold medal was usually reserved to field grade and general officers, while the silver and bronze grades were more commonly awarded to noncomissioned officers (NCOs) and company grade officers.
An individual of any rank who had earned the Best Soldier badge (German: Bestenabzeichen) for seven consecutive years was eligible for the bronze medal, for nine years the silver medal and twelve years the gold medal.
Read more about this topic: Medal Of Merit Of The National People's Army
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